For individuals & businesses, choosing an affordable web hosting plan on a limited budget is a challenge.

The main reason for this is that most companies offering ecommerce hosting solutions focus on the higher-end corporate market and often overlook the small business web hosting segment.

However, finding reliable web hosting isn’t exactly a cakewalk, but it can be relatively easy if you follow these simple steps: define your requirements; user review survey; create a short list of potential ecommerce web hosting as well as email hosting services and ask questions.

Define your requirements:
•    How much disk space and bandwidth is necessary?
•    Type of hosting – dedicated / private or shared web hosting?
•    Will you require CGI or database capacities?
•    What type of hosting plan will you need – Windows hosting plans or Linux hosting plans.
•    Will your website have any streaming media requirements?
•    Will your site change substantially in the future?
•    Affordable web hosting only for your purposes or for clients – shared web hosting.

User Review Survey:
•    Always take testimonials at face value. User forums are the best place to find the truth. Also mail webmasters to get a reality checks.
•    Be wary of Web hosting directories and mailing lists, many are owned & operated by Web hosts. (we are not!)
•    Read the declarations regarding service uptime, downtime, backup, security etc.

Create a shortlist:
•    Make a list of potential ecommerce web  hosting and email hosting services that you see are recommended the most and complained about the least.
•    Determine which hosts offer specific services that you need, with scalability for future changes.
•    Determine which host fits your price range.

Ask questions:
•    Ask mundane questions to check the quality, speed & efficacy of their response.
•    Ask the service providers technical questions to gauge their acumen, knowledge and accuracy.
•    Ask a lot of question to determine the host’s commitment to customers.
•    Subject host to an honesty test: offer them the opportunity to up sell you needlessly. (simple yet effective)

The Tricks of the Trade
SOHO consumers can find the most effective hosting services for their business if they follow and understand the following recommendations:
•    Make sure the hosting company offers 24/7/365 technical support by phone, email and chat whether you have opted for windows hosting plans or Linux hosting plans.
•    Do not be seduced by hosts offering cheap shared hosting services or extra services than you need. Most of them skimp on security & support.
•    Choose a host who is flexible, scalable, and who can grow with your business.
•    Ensure that you can add domains to a core plan and resell services.
•    Ensure that the host offers a knowledge base of scripts, online marketing effective coding. (A surefire way to check their scale of operations)
•    Check to ensure that the host offers some level of interaction.
•    Watch for signs of rudeness, impatience and unresponsiveness.
•    Do not sign a long-term contact for hosting services right away.
•    If you have more than one site, consider spreading them among several hosts.

For a small web business start-up, choosing the right ecommerce hosting at the right time can be the best strategic move. It can enable your business to grow fast and offer you a high ROI. Reliable and affordable web hosting can be the crucial factor between failure & success.

Summary – For a small web business start-up, choosing the right ecommerce hosting at the right time can be the best strategic move. It can enable your business to grow fast and offer you a high ROI. Reliable and affordable web hosting can be the crucial factor between your failure & success.

If you are relatively new to the concept of having your very own place on the web this article may help fill you in on some of the basics.

There are two main categories of web hosting that I am going to cover in this article. The first is dedicated hosting and the second is shared hosting. The second type ,shared hosting, I usually break down into paid and free. Normally, unless you are a very special person, you can’t get dedicated hosting for free.

Before I break down the hosting types, however, let’s clear up some terminology…

Bandwidth is the amount of data your site can transfer in a given period of time. This is sometimes referred to as transfer. When people view your site on the internet they are downloading it from the server and this uses up your bandwidth.

Storage is basically the measure of hard drive space your web site is allowed to take up on a server.

OK, now on to the rest of it…

Dedicated hosting , or more like dedicated server, is where your web site gets one entire server to itself. You are pretty much entitled to all of the resources this server has to offer. The entire bandwith and hard drive capacity is yours including memory for processing and whatever else. With larger, traffic intensive web sites dedicated hosting is pretty much a must but shared hosting is usually more than sufficient for individuals and small to smallish medium businesses.

Shared hosting is basically when a hosting company puts your web site on a server with web sites from other customers. Your hosting provider will usually give you monthly limits for bandwidth, storage, email accounts and such. Depending on what server you were put on and how good your hosting provider is sometimes things can get a little crowded on a server and cause your site to be slow and unresponsive.

Free hosting is shared hosting you get from a free service like geocities or another. It is usually incredibly limited. Sometimes you can “earn” a decent free hosting account by posting in forums and such but in my opinion paid hosting and a real domain name are much better.

Paid hosting is actually inexpensive these days. You can get good solid hosting that will support a small business for under $100 per year. Usually hosting providers include a free domain name and free setup as well as a money back guarantee.

I hope you found this article helpful. If you decide to buy hosting make sure to be incredibly picky. The last thing you want is to end up with the wrong web host. Read some articles on picking the right domain name and hunt down reviews of web hosting companies.

I wouldn’t go with companies that aren’t huge and well established. I’ve known many people who have lost web sites when unstable hosting companies went under.

Be vigilant and have fun. Getting a web site is the cheapest way to start a business.

We suggest looking into the following hosting companies: Lunarpages, Hostgator, Eleven2, Justhost, Webhostingpad and Site5. Good luck in your search!

OVERLAND PARK, KS – (HOSTINGWORD.COM) March 23, 2009 – Aplus.net, a leading web hosting company and Internet solutions provider, has just released a new set of flexible managed hosting services that provide support on a wide array of routine tasks as well as expert guidance on managing firewalls, load balancing, and other custom services. Managed Hosting from Aplus.net offers several benefits for small- and medium-sized companies in terms of time, cost and efficiency as an alternative to self-managed servers.

Aplus.net has assembled a comprehensive list of essentials ­– from email and DNS services, OS patching and network monitoring to security checks and managed backups – enabling site owners to focus on other critical aspects of their businesses. Items are available in a series of three, progressively-tiered hosting plans: Basic Managed, Selected Managed and Premium Managed. Plan participants may also choose from a list of custom services (À La Carte Support) designed to assist owners with setup, maintenance, cooperative support and other important tasks to optimize web sites and email delivery.

“Increasingly, the challenge for many businesses today is: can you still afford to manage your own servers for hosting and email?” points out Alex Yevelev, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aplus.net. ”There are more security threats than ever and hundreds, even thousands, of software and server patches required every year. Faced with potential email outages, data loss and other risks to your web presence, managed services offer one avenue of protection.”

Managed hosting is available on any dedicated server through Aplus.net. For more information on pricing, features and other important details, review Aplus.net’s Managed Hosting plans.

To help businesses understand and evaluate their options, Aplus.net has just published Reduce Costs While Improving Reliability, Uptime, and Security, exploring the advantages, current trends and key features of semi- and fully-managed hosting plans. This 9-page whitepaper is free and available for download at http://www.aplus.net/servers/dedicated/managed-hosting/whitepaper/.

About Aplus.net

One of the industry’s longest-running Web hosting and Internet services providers, Aplus.net specializes in helping small businesses build an online customer base with a comprehensive range of services that includes shared hosting, dedicated hosting, web design, online marketing, eCommerce, domain name registration, and more. Aplus.net has received multiple awards for excellence, including the prestigious CNET Editors’ Choice Award, and has been featured in top U.S. business publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Black Enterprise, and PC Magazine. For more information about Aplus.net, please visit www.aplus.net.

The prices of domain name registration and web hosting have dropped to the point that it’s possible to own multiple websites without going broke. If you plan to operate multiple websites, here is some information on the different options available to you.

The first thing to consider when setting up multiple websites is whether or not to host them all with the same web hosting company. Many web hosts offer packages that let you set up multiple sites on a single account and almost all will let you set up multiple accounts, one for each site.

If you are happy with the hosting company you’re using for your existing website(s), one advantage of using them for another site is the fact that you know they offer good service and support.

They might also offer discounts for multiple sites, so your costs might be lower if you stay with them again.

On the other hand, if you choose a different host you’ll be able to compare the quality of another company with whomever you’re currently using. If you ever run into problems with them, you’ll have an alternative. It’s wise not to “put all your eggs in one basket” as the saying goes.

Another advantage of using a different host is that you’ll get a different IP address for each of your sites. If your sites are related to one another and you want to link them together, having different IP addresses can sometimes help your site rank higher in the search engines.

Links from other sites are one of the most important factors in getting your site ranked highly. If those links come from sites on the same IP address, it is a signal to the search engines that they are quite likely all owned by the same person, and they may discount the value of those links.

If you do choose to host all your sites with one company, there are essentially 3 choices – separate accounts for each site, a reseller account where they are all hosted or a dedicated server, again where they are all hosted.

Separate accounts are self-explanatory, so let’s look at reseller accounts. As a reseller, you are basically acting as an agent for the hosting company – a middleman between them and the end user.

The idea is that you can set up your own company offering web hosting that is ultimately hosted by the company. You don’t have to resell this hosting however – you can use the hosting services for your own websites, essentially “reselling” the hosting to yourself.

A reseller account is nice because all your websites are “under one roof” and you have a single point of contact for any technical problems.

Hosting on a dedicated server gives you complete control of the computer that is the web server. You can install any software you want, any operating system you want and you can allocate resources like memory and hard disk space however you want to divide it up between your sites.

The disadvantage of a dedicated server is that you are responsible for maintaining the server and sometimes even for the technical side of things. If you aren’t familiar with the technical side of running a web server, you may need to choose a managed dedicated server, where the hosting company looks after these issues.

Dedicated servers are, of course, more expensive than the other options, so unless your websites are well established, with a lot of traffic, they may not fit within your budget.

With all the negative financial news floating around the Internet – on blogs and in the mainstream media – it’s nice to think about something like web hosting coupons that can actually save you money. Just imagine that – a positive piece of financial news! Web hosting coupons from HostGator are one thing that can save you money if you’re looking for a web hosting company that can take care of your needs without charging you an arm and a leg (no biting crocodiles here.) Seriously, though, HostGator, around since 2002, is dedicated to giving you a great, low cost web hosting experience.

HostGator is one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States according to Inc. Magazine recently. That growth is testament to their dedication to getting and, more importantly, retaining customers. From great service to great prices to a helpful staff, HostGator goes all out to continue their terrific growth. As they grow, they’re able to save all their customers money due to economies of scale and having more resources for things like research and development that can lead to new and better ways to do things. By passing these savings onto customers, they’re able to continue their terrific growth.

HostGator is also a company that “gets” the Internet and how it works. They have a company blog (written by employees) that is fairly well read by those in the web hosting industry and those with a curiosity about the business or what HostGator’s employees think about things around the world, including current events. The blog helps put another layer on the ‘human side’ of the company, something that goes a long way to explain the success they’re experiencing as a web hosting company.

Brent Oxley started with three dedicated servers and grew that into a company that handles over 5,000 servers that run over 1,000,000 websites. That’s a lot of servers and a lot of domains hosted. And HostGator is still growing, a true sign that they know what they’re doing and they know how to do it well, even while growing. To add web hosting coupons to the mix is almost going over the top, but HostGator is trying to continue their growth. To do that, they’re willing to discount the price to get people to sign-up and try them. They’re confident that once people experience hosting the HostGator way (they eat up the competition) they’ll be customers for life.

Saving money is an important part of doing business. HostGator understands this, which is why they’re willing to offer money saving coupons to their customers. Saving a little money here and there on web hosting might not seem like a big thing, but even small savings start to add up. And once you start hosting your website with HostGator, chances are you’ll get new servers or services with them as you grow. Saving money is important to HostGator and they love to pass savings on via coupons for web hosting.

March 25, 2009 – (HOSTINGWORD.COM) – Web host Go Daddy hit the links today to announce its newest Go Daddy Girl, Anna Rawson. At a news conference on the grounds of this week’s LPGA tournament in Phoenix, Ariz., the company unveiled the Australian model and LPGA golfer as its newest spokesperson. The company now has four Go Daddy Girl spokeswomen.

Go Daddy, the world’s dominant Web hosting domain registrar, is known for signing good looking, confident, accomplished women as Go Daddy Girls. Anna is certainly no exception. Anna is the only runway model to become a professional golfer. She scored Top Ten finishes in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Australia. She also writes, having her own golf column syndicated in more than 20 countries around the world.

Go Daddy’s CEO and Founder Bob Parsons is known for having an eye for new talent and is very excited about the company’s newest Go Daddy Girl. “Anna is edgy, she’s hot, she’s outspoken…I ask you, what’s not GoDaddy-esque about that?”

GoDaddy-esque is a term coined by the media, meaning fun, edgy and slightly inappropriate.

Anna was especially energized at the news conference announcing her new assignment. “This is a great day for me,” she said. “Joining a dynamic company like GoDaddy.com, a company that, unlike most these days, is thriving and not afraid to make bold moves…that’s just my kind of sponsor.”

She is the second new Go Daddy Girl to be announced just this month. PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso was welcomed as a new Go Daddy Girl in Las Vegas, just before making history as the first woman to reach the final round of NBC’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship. Rounding out the Go Daddy ‘foursome,’ is Danica Patrick, IndyCar’s most popular driver and original Go Daddy Girl Candice Michelle.

Go Daddy is expanding its sponsorships as the company’s revenue, customer base and employee numbers explode. Evidence that Go Daddy and the Internet may, in fact, be at the heart of the new economy, as Parsons has suggested since throwing a $2MM holiday party for his employees in December.

As far as the new Go Daddy Girl’s golf resume, she was a vital member of the University of Southern California’s National Championship team in college, finished Top Ten on three different tours and has played professionally from the U.S. to Europe to the Far East, earning her LPGA card last year.

Anna is building a reputation for her activities off the course as well, having been voted one of the Top Ten Most Beautiful Female Athletes by Sports Illustrated and named Maxim’s Sexiest New Athlete in 2008.

Anna is set to compete in this week’s J Golf Phoenix LPGA International at Papago Golf Course. First though, the newest Go Daddy Girl tees it up with ‘Go Daddy’ himself, Bob Parsons, in the Celebrity Pro-Am tomorrow.

Go Daddy is a world leader in domain registration and Web hosting, as well as new SSL certificates. Go Daddy offers 40+ products backed by 24/7/365 industry-best customer care to make enhancing your image online quick, easy and affordable.

It’s a simple fact, but one that can have a big impact on your bottom line – web hosting coupons save money. Just Host understands the importance of getting new customers so they offer great coupon deals on web hosting to attract new business. This is great news for those already wanting to try out one of the newcomers to the business of web hosting.

Just Develop It, which runs a lot of Internet companies, launched Just Host in July 2008, with an idea to bring their brand and technique of doing things on the Internet to the world of hosting. The staff at Just Host all thrive on getting the job done and getting it done well. Their dedication to their customers has shown with some of the great reviews they’ve received around the Internet. Just Host can help you save on your web hosting costs.

Web hosting coupons from Just Host can help you do more than just save. They offer a lot of extras with their hosting above and beyond the savings offered via the coupon. From free unlimited email to a free domain name to the ability to host unlimited domains, Just Host packages (from standard to premium) have a lot of extras that just add to the savings from their coupons.

Just Host is concerned about websites hosted on their servers and takes pride in their attention to customer service. That and their attention to details like load balancing. By employing smart methods on their machines, they help guarantee that websites hosted on any of their plans operate smoothly without any problems.

This dedication shows when you look at their own website. There are no flashing lights or half-naked women dancing around (not that there’s anything wrong with that sometimes.) The Just Host website is, well, just right, in a lot of ways. From the design and layout of the information, to the text itself, their website is really well put together. This is a good sign when you’re trying to decide if you should go with a particular web hosting company or not.

Another factor – one that is sometimes the deal closer – is the fact that Just Host offers coupons for their web hosting packages. This extra savings when you sign-up shows their commitment to getting you as a customer. And if they’re giving up something to get you, you can be sure they’re going to do everything they can to keep you once you’ve signed up with them.

A lot of web hosting companies offer coupons to get you to sign-up, but fail to impress you with their service or their knowledge. This is where Just Host is just different. With their 30 day money back guarantee, if you’re not happy, you’re not out any money. Chances are, though, you’re going to be more than happy with their service and their prices. That they offer great web hosting coupons is just icing on the cake.

So you have finally planned to invade the magical world of Internet. All captions ready, all information gathered, all details penned down. What next?

Your next important step is finding the Web Host for your site, The Right One..

A web host is a service provider that places your web site on a computer that is connected to Internet. This then gives people who surf Internet a way to access your website.

Finding the best host for your company’s Web site is one of the most important steps when taking your business online. Not only will your host be responsible for placing your company’s site on the Internet; it will also be responsible for keeping it there and being available to potential customers.

Now, let us take a look at the steps to be followed when choosing the right web host:

1. Create an online plan for your site. What you are going to sell, number of items, methods of payment and the features of your site. Then determine the possibilities for your site’s expansion over the next six months, the next year and the next five years. Look into these factors before short-listing your probable host.

Disk Space/Storage refers to the amount of space given by a web-hosting plan for your web site’s pages, images, and any additional files. Take this into consideration when determining the total number of files you will be using for your website and their sizes. If you are planning on creating a website with a lot of video or audio files, you will need a lot of disk space. Check whether your host can meet this requirement.

Programming Languages such as ASP, PHP, Perl/CGI, JSP and ColdFusion are used to create a lot of popular scripts (software) to help your website function. Make sure your web host supports the language used by you. Also, if you are planning on selling services or products from your website, make sure the web hosting plan you choose offers some type of ecommerce solution.

2. Now that you have checked out all your requirements, pick your top five responses. Surprisingly, many of the hosts you submit a request for a proposal to won’t respond by your set deadline. Ignore them and look at the responses you receive and pick the five best.

3. Ask for references. Take your short list of hosts and ask them for the names of some of their clients — then pick up the phone and see what the host’s clients have to say. Be sure to inquire how good the host is at making the site available online.

4. Test their customer service. Pick up the phone and call customer support at 2 a.m. Drop customer support an e-mail to see how fast they respond to you. Do what it takes to feel comfortable with your service provider before you enter into any type of business relationship.

Choosing the right Web host is easier if you approach it the way you would approach any other major purchase for your business. It can mean the difference between success and failure for your online venture.

We recommend the hosts listed at the top of our website: Lunarpages, Justhost, Hostgator, Site5, WebHostingPad and Eleven2

In today’s world, everyone is looking to save a little money. People who are looking for web hosts (for whatever reason) are no different. Those looking for websites for business purposes might be a little more interested in saving money, but for the most part, the idea of saving money is widely accepted as a good thing – even great. LunarPages understands this and offers coupon codes as one way to save a little money when deciding to give their company a try.

If you haven’t heard of the LunarPages family, they’re ready and willing to welcome you into their web hosting family. LunarPages was born from Add2Net in 2000. Since then, they’ve grown from offering just shared hosting to a whole range of hosting packages – with a lot of extras you might not find at other hosting companies. Whether you’re looking for a Windows server or a Linux server, LunarPages has what you need to get your website or websites up and running. Not only that, they want to make sure your websites stay up and running smoothly, which is why they’ve invested so much time, effort and money into their four data centers located around North America.

Coupon codes are the way to save at LunarPages, but they’re not the only value received when ordering web hosting from them. LunarPages has been around for a while and in that time, they’ve built up a good reputation in the web hosting industry – taking an active role in issues that affect the whole industry. They’re not only respected by other companies in the industry, though. With over 150,000 customers, they’ve build up a great reputation with consumers over the years as well. They want to offer you a chance to build on their reputation by offering web hosting coupons.

Web hosting coupons are just one small way LunarPages likes to attract new business. They’re so confident that you’ll like your web hosting experience with them, they’re willing to lower the cost (sometimes significantly) with a coupon. This extra savings can be used by you for other things – which means LunarPages coupons for web hosting are a great value any way you look at it. This is why their web coupons are one of the best ways to save when it comes to web hosting expenses.

The more you can save when launching a website, the less of an investment you risk with the venture, whatever it might be. You’ll also have more money for other aspects of the project – like advertising or marketing. Web hosting coupons might seem like something really small, but savings can really start to add up when you pay attention to the small things. With the global economy the way it is, any savings is a good thing. LunarPages has some great coupon offers that will save you a lot of money on all your web hosting needs. If you’re interested in great hosting and saving a little money while getting it, LunarPages has some hosting offers for you.

(HOSTINGWORD.COM) HOUSTON, March 24, 2009 – The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today announced the general availability of its new Storage Cloud service. The company offers globally dispersed locations to meet their customers’ requirements, wherever they are located around the world. Customers can choose from an on-premise local node in The Planet’s Dallas D2 data center, or from locations on the East or West Coasts, Europe or Asia, through its partnership with Nirvanix.  The company also offers Storage Cloud options for organizations that do not require hosting solutions.

Coupled with a server hosted at The Planet, customers combine the speed and flexibility of on-premise Network Attached Storage (NAS) with the global access and usage-based billing capabilities of its Storage Cloud solution. All Storage Cloud customers with servers hosted at The Planet are connected through its world-class network, which provides unprecedented performance. Customers eliminate the hassle of managing two separate invoices, one for high-performance on-premise file storage and another for cloud-based offerings. The Planet Storage Cloud provides both services in a single account, which offers a simple method for tracking and understanding file-based storage usage.

“We conducted extensive testing and evaluated multiple cloud storage options for price and performance, reliability and scalability, and The Planet provided us with the best solution,” said Bill Robertson, Founder and CEO of Q Point Technology (http://www.truesafe.net).  “Our customers choose TrueSafe because it enables them to offer their own Online Backup service.  They want a reliable system that is instantly deployed, scales with adoption and offers straightforward, no-surprises billing. Across the board, The Planet delivers the best value, return on investment and service for our customers.” “With other cloud storage platforms, we hear time and again from customers that invoices are dramatically inflated due to unexpected and hidden transactional fees,” said Rob Walters, general manager for The Planet’s Storage and Data Protection business. “Our no-surprises philosophy removes the uncertainty. In addition, other companies by contrast offer a one-city cloud storage option, typically resident in their city of operation. Our customers can choose options from multiple replicated global or domestic nodes. With three access methods included with every Storage Cloud account — including API, Nirvanix CloudNAS™ or Nirvanix FTP Proxy™ — customers can eliminate the development requirements typically associated with other platforms. From early customer evaluations, we’ve heard first-hand that they appreciate the scalability, exceptional performance, simple integration and competitive pricing that are The Planet’s industry-recognized hallmarks.”

The Planet Storage Cloud Benefits

With its usage-based billing and simple integration, customers can take advantage of unlimited storage options, available on-demand around-the-clock:

Fast, on-premise storage, great rates: Pricing starts at 25 cents per Gigabyte, with discounts as customers use more, while other hosting companies routinely charge between 60 cents and $1 for equivalent NAS-type products.  On-premise storage is accessible via the cloud, which reduces server resource utilization and requirements for a separate cloud account. Bandwidth charges are incurred only for outbound-transactions, and all uploads to The Planet Storage Cloud node are free.

Data closer to customers: The Planet offers the industry’s only geographically distributed Storage Cloud platform. For companies with storage-intensive businesses or Web sites, data transfer speeds are dramatically improved by storing data closer to their users. Storage nodes are located in three domestic and two international locations, making it easier than ever to take advantage of cloud storage options.

Simple management and integration: The Planet provides customers a single account for managing both their hosted environment and storage cloud platform. This integrated account is unmatched by other hosting or cloud storage providers. The standards-based Storage Cloud platform is accessible through CIFS, NFS, FTP and HTTP, as well as an extensible API streamlining integration. Unlike other cloud storage providers, The Planet bundles free-access software that enables faster integration and eliminates the purchase of third-party integration products.

Cost-effective disaster recovery, backup and archiving repository: By removing data from servers and into the Storage Cloud, customers can protect against all types of disasters, whether it’s human error, loss of network connectivity or malicious intent.

For more information about The Planet Storage Cloud, visit the Web site at http://www.theplanet.com/cloud-storage/.

About The Planet

The Planet is the leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 20,000 small- and medium-size businesses and 15.2 million Web sites worldwide. Customers have the power to choose from the broadest range of hosting solutions in the industry, from dedicated servers, Alpha Professional Managed Dedicated Servers, Northstar Managed Hosting and data center colocation, all backed by 24x7x365 support. With the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class service, backed by state-of-the-art data centers and an enterprise-class network, The Planet turns IT into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to grow their businesses. For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.